Broomfield is a city and county with a strong sense of unity, pride and identity. Our community is planned with a balance of residential and commercial land use, with generous open space, parks and natural areas. Our residents enjoy a full array of employment, recreational opportunities and human services.
Broomfield boasts an exceptional school system, with both public and private offerings, that combine the latest in education’s creative and innovative teaching methods. Within the Broomfield community, residents are served by the Boulder Valley School District, Adams 12 Five Star School District, Weld County School District, Jefferson County School District, Brighton School District, and St. Vrain School District.
Broomfield offers a variety of housing options from affordable starter homes to million-dollar executive mansions and mid-level upscale custom homes, townhomes and condos, to high-end apartments and affordable rentals. Take a look at some of Broomfield’s residential districts.
We are a community connected. Connected by our residents, over 8,000 acres of private and public open lands, high speed internet, global companies, and a multimodal transportation network, Broomfield offers access to Denver, Boulder and the world. Today Broomfield has a population of 76,121.
Several railroads figure in the development of this area. The Colorado Central Railroad built a narrow-gauge line from Golden in 1873, the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad arrived in 1881, and the Denver, Marshall and Boulder Railway built a line through what is now Broomfield in 1886. The Denver, Utah and Pacific was widened to standard gauge in 1889. One of the early names for the area was Zang’s Spur, after the railroad spur serving Adolph Zang’s grain fields.
The municipality of Broomfield was incorporated in 1961 in the southeastern corner of Boulder County. Researchers speculate the city was named for the sorghum grown in the area, also known as broomcorn, which farmers sold to manufacturers of brooms and whisk brooms.
In the 1990s, after three decades of annexations, Broomfield stretched across Adams, Boulder, Jefferson, and Weld counties, city leaders felt increasing chagrin with the need to deal with four separate court districts, four different county seats, and four separate county sales tax bases. They began pushing to make Broomfield a consolidated city-county similar to Denver, reasoning that they could provide services more responsively if it had its own county government.
The city sought an amendment to the state constitution to create a new county. The amendment was passed in 1998, after which a three-year transition period followed.
On November 15, 2001, Broomfield County became the 64th and smallest county of Colorado. It is the newest county in Colorado (and in the entire United States, if county equivalents are not included)